Tugboat

The Panama Canal has increased its tugboat fleet with the arrival of the first two of 14 tugboats that will improve the waterway’s resources to offer a safer and more efficient service to the global shipping industry. These tugboats will strengthen the Canal’s capacity for the operation of the Third Set of Locks.
“These new tugboats will allow the Panama Canal to continue offering a world-class service,” Panama Canal Administrator Jorge L. Quiijano said. “They will help us prepare to face the challenge of operating the new set of locks with the same efficiency.”
Cerro Itamut and Cerro Picacho are part of the new fleet of 14 tractor tugs that will be arriving within the next 12 months from Spain. Astilleros Armon, S.A., a Spanish ship-building company, was awarded the contract in September 2011, after an open tender with the participation of 20 companies from different countries in South America, Europe and Asia.
Quijano explained that the update to the Panama Canal tugboat fleet began in 2001, when the waterway had 20 tugs. Currently, the Panama Canal has 39.
According to the Panama Canal Administrator, towards the end of next year and after retiring those tugs reaching the end of their lifespan, the Panama Canal will have a fleet of 44 tugboats to face the operational demands of the current and expanded Canal.

Panama President Mireya Moscoso welcomed two new tugboats to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) fleet, both purchased at a cost of $10,768,794. The new units, named Herrera and Los Santos, are made of state-of-the-art technology, and include emergency response equipment and improved operational facilities.
Canal Administrator Alberto Aleman Zubieta stated: “ The addition of two tugboats, Herrera and Los Santos, are part of the Canal’s permanent modernization program geared towards providing

Young Brothers Ltd. announced it will spend $186 million over 10 years on a new fleet of barges, tugboats, shipping containers, lifts and other equipment.
The 106-year-old company is Hawaii’s largest interisland cargo line.
The company's first new barge, a car-carrying roll-on/roll-off barge that can transport 500 vehicles, is scheduled for delivery late this year, sources said. The vessel, which is enclosed to protect cars from sea spray and salt air

“Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats,” opens as a new exhibit on Saturday, April 21 in the Steamboat Building of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels, MD.
The Chesapeake is a highway for tugs and barges, and for the large ships aided by tugs in port. The exhibit explores the lives of the men and women who work on these tugboats and the variety of ways tugs are used around the Chesapeake

Great Lakes Towing Company tugboats 'Wyoming' & 'Idaho' free the grounded freighter Spruceglen in Lake St. Claire.
The Great Lakes Towing Company, which celebrates 115 years of service this year, provides tugboat and towing services, ship assist, logistics and cargo transportation, ice breaking, and emergency assistance of every kind of vessel, barge, and marine structure in 40 U.S. Great Lakes ports located on all five Great Lakes and in all eight U.S. Great Lakes States.

The Vane Brothers Company, a marine transportation provider headquartered in Baltimore, has taken delivery of Kings Point, the latest in a wave of Maryland-built tugboats.
Constructed under the supervision of Vane Senior Port Captain Jim Demske, Kings Point is the 10th of 14 “Sassafras Class” tugboats contracted by Vane Brothers through Chesapeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, Maryland. Kings Point also has a sister tug, Fort Schuyler

According to Focus News, the Bulgarian crew onboard the Katya Z ship are well and expect help from the tugboat Belarus after the Katya Z became stuck in the ice. Two tugboats were sent earlier to help the stuck ship, but there was no result because of their low power. There are 14 Bulgarians and four Ukrainian citizens on board the ship. The area in which the ship has stuck freezes often and there have been similar incidents before.
(Source: Focus News)

The family run business of Colle Towing Inc, who operate tugboats on the Pascagoula River, recently took delivery of its second Marine Travelift a new 600C boat hoist.
The acquisition of the 600C machine means that Colle Towing will no longer have to operate a dry dock, which is much less efficient than the Marine Travelift operation.
This is the second 600C boat hoist, which has been sold by Marine Travelift's dealer, H &E Equipment Services of Louisiana.

According to a July 14 Associated Press report, a federal program to recruit more tugboat pilots may have backfired by allowing thousands of novice captains to take the helm, contributing to a 25 percent increase in the number of accidents on the nation's rivers. An Associated Press review of Coast Guard records indicates that the U.S. tugboat fleet is increasingly piloted by captains who have spent as little as one year in the wheelhouse.

The Panama Canal has received Cerro Ancon, the last of the 14 tractor tugs of its new fleet. These new tugboats will allow the Canal to offer a more efficient service to the global shipping industry and strengthen the waterway's capacity for the operation of the Third Set of Locks.
The tugboats have been gradually arriving to Panama from Spain since June 2013. Astilleros Armon, S.A., a Spanish ship-building company, was awarded the contract in September 2011

The Great Lakes Towing Company, which operates the largest fleet of shipdocking tugboats on the U.S. Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Seaway, has announced the addition of four more tugboats to its fleet.
The four newly purchased tugs will be named after four of the Great Lakes; Tug Michigan

A cargo ship ran aground and smashed into a villa on Turkey's Bosphorus Strait on Tuesday, forcing maritime authorities to close the key waterway to transit traffic, shipping agency GAC said.
The 105 metre Sierra Leone-flagged Majed & Randy had no pilot on board when it suffered a rudder

The Ledcor Group of Companies announced that it has taken delivery of six new cargo barges to serve clients in southwest B.C.
Ledcor said its marine division has grown significantly since its inception in 2012 and is on target to double its fleet size by 2016

Transnet National Port’s Authority’s R1.4 billion contract to produce nine powerful tugboats is progressing on time and within budget at the Southern African Shipyards premises in Durban.
“This is a milestone project that reinforces the capacity and skill of South Africa and

USS Constitution, ‘Old Ironsides’, will enter dry dock May 18 for a nearly three year restoration with most of the work being done below the waterline and the bow area.
The timeline of events leading up to the ship’s dry docking can be found below

Construction work on nine tugboats for Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) at the Southern African Shipyards premises in Durban is well under way.
"This is a milestone project that reinforces the capacity and skill of South Africa when it comes to competing in the global shipbuilding

Conrad Industries, Inc. announced the appointment of Scott J. Theriot as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Johnny Conrad, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Scott has been in the shipyard business since 1976 in various positions spending the majority

Two crew members died after their tugboat sank in waters off the southeastern port city of Busan in Korea, Yonhap reports quoting the authorities.
The accident took place around 12:30 p.m. when a towing cable of the 22-ton tugboat, 97 Samyoung

The multi-function PowerhouseTug &amp; Barge (PTB) system is a novel design that utilizes electric propulsion in the barge and a tugboat with a set of generators as a power pack. This concept has two basic differences with traditional ATB (Articulated Tug &amp; Barge) system

Two tugboats capsized and sank close to each other on the St. Lawrence River on Monday. They are the latest in a recent flurry of adverse incidents on the waterway.
Witnesses say the first tug tipped over around 4 p.m. while the crew managed to escape before the boat capsized

The eight Indonesian nationals arrested by Vietnamese authorities and suspected of hijacking the Malaysia-flagged tanker Orkim Harmony confessed to the crime, says a report in The Straits Times.
Thirteen individuals were involved in the hijacking of the MT Orkim Harmony

Svitzerhas ordered two more Damen ASD 3212 tugs with 80 tons bollard pull performance for its escort and towing operations on the Thames and Felixstowe. They are being built at Damen’s ong Cam Shipyard in Vietnam and will be delivered to Svitzer UK in October 2015.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has taken delivery of Asia’s first tugboat Hai Yang Shi You 525, designed to operate solely on liquefied natural gas as ship’s fuel.
Hai Yang Shi You 525, the first of two tugs built by the Zhenjiang shipyard for CNOOC

Conrad Industries, Inc. announced the appointment of Rene J. Leonard as Vice President of Business Development and Engineering.
"Rene has been in the shipyard business over 25 years in various capacities including naval architect, project engineer, program manager